'Rise in Indian exports to non-US markets'

Mumbai, Jun 4: The trend of India's exports is shifting from the traditional US market to the UAE, a Dun&Bradstreet report said. The US has traditionally been India's leading export destination and in FY-07 too, it accounted for as much as 14.9 per cent of the total merchandise exports worth an estimated USD 18.9 billion, the report said.

Even though the US share in India's merchandise exports dwindled from 20.7 per cent in FY-03 to 14.9 per cent in FY-07, in value terms it increased from USD 10.9 billion to USD 18.9 billion. ''This was also an indication of India's growing preference for trading with other emerging markets by diversifying its product group and improving its quality,'' the report said. The UAE, which is the second-largest export market, accounted for 9.5 per cent of the country's total exports in FY-07, while in FY-03 it accounted for 6.3 per cent only. The spurt in exports to the UAE can be largely attributed to a rise in exports of mineral fuels, mineral oils and products, which constituted almost 30.4 per cent of total exports to the UAE, it said.

UAE is also an important market for re-export in the entire Middle East region and in 2005, its total re-export was as high as USD 26.4 billion. India's exports to China have also seen a rapid growth from just 3.7 per cent in FY-03 to 6.6 per cent in FY-07.

India's export share to Singapore has gone up from around 2 per cent in FY-01 to 4.8 per cent in FY-07, the report added.